Developing 4D-documentation tools for culture historical use, case Seminaarinmäki
Ari Häyrinen, University of Jyväskylä
This study aims to resolve the problem that is present in all scientific visualisations; what information is behind that what is seen in the visualisation? We develop 4D-documentation practices that combines culture historical documents, reconstruction data, visualisation of reconstruction and time dimension. Without going to any deeper philosophical discussions, it can be said that all events and objects are located in time and space. So when documenting these events and objects, it is natural to locate them in time and space. But it is also very natural to access this documentation through time and space, which are - in this case - virtual.
The problem in visualisation of reconstruction is the relation between the documentation part and the visualisation part. The documentation includes all necessary documents like photographs, videos, plans, cross-sections etc. and the visualisation is presented for example as a drawing, a miniature model or an 3D-model. But the link between the documentation and the visualisation is very hard to establish. This is especially true for non-interactive media like images, books, magazines and videos. By using interactive, virtual reality application, the link between the documentation and the visualisation becomes dynamic. All data stored in documentation is directly available from the visualisation.
The Seminaarinmäki area in Jyväskylä is a remarkable cultural-historical and architectural object, protected by an order issued by the Government of Finland. The area is related to the strengthening of European and Scandinavian urban structure and public construction at the turn of the 20th century. The buildings representing different styles serve as examples of the ideals of campus construction in their own time, which were connected with the roots of both European and national culture and learning. Seminaarinmäki can be divided into several architectural layers. With its 20 buildings and culture historical significance, the Seminaarinmäki works as an excellent test-case for this documentation model.
The visualisation is done with free 3D-modelling software called Blender3D. The documentation tools consists of the documentation database and the 3D-client. The document database allows very great variety of different kind of documents including the argumentation chain, that has led to the this specific reconstruction. It has also ability to store hierarchical information. The 3D-client gathers data from the database(s) and offers 4D-dimensional interactive virtual reality. The software will be released under GNU General Public License (GPL).
